Pages

Wednesday, May 13, 2015

Teleportation and Gibson's Vision of a Beige World

I've travelled a lot this year and, unfortunately, I've got several more weekends of planes and car rides ahead of me until I hit my third trimester and mercifully get a doctor-approved break. And as much as I love traveling, I have to admit I find all this back and forth fairly exhausting. To those of you out there who travel weekly for work,
God bless you. I can't imagine trying to keep up this pace on a
regular basis.

As I sat down to book yet another series of flights and hotel rooms, I couldn't but but speculate how much simpler life would be if
I only possessed a teleportation device.

Think about it. It would eliminate the need
for airports and road trips (at least road trips that are not of the
recreational sort). No more pulling out your laptops and liquids for TSA
inspection, or holding it until you drive past a decently clean and/or safe looking
bathroom. You could zip across the country in the blink of an eye. You
could save hundreds and hundreds of your hard earned dollars by eliminating the
need for hotels. Who needs a reservation at the Marriott when you can hop to
Paris for the afternoon and be back home before bedtime? Not to mention the effect it would have on
long distance relationships and the job market. No need to move to a city that
caters to you chosen profession. Live in Chicago but dating someone in San Francisco? No problem!
With a handy teleportation device, all your geographic troubles disappear.

Ideal, right?

But as I fantasize about the benefits of teleportation, I can't help but think
about William Gibson's Neuromancer. He wrote of a completely homogenized world, one where countries bleed together and cities around the world are practically indistinguishable. And I can't help but wonder if the lines between cities and
countries become moot, would the world's most recognizable and treasured cities
all meld together? Would we wind up with a beige world, stripped of what made different places around the globe unique?

Imagine stepping out of a teleportation device and not being able to recognize if you're in Bangkok or London. Of taking a trip to Tokyo and thinking how similar it is to Milwaukee. The very thought of it makes me think a little more favorably of planes with screaming babies, endless miles crammed in a car, too-firm hotel beds and even the dreaded TSA.

What about you? Have you ever wondered what life would be like with teleportation?

Are you kidding? That's why I used it in my Cassa series. It would be awesome.I don't think the world would ever blend that much. Some things would blend - look at how Japan has adopted a lot of Western things. But it still looks like Japan.Glad you won't be traveling much soon.

I think it would be awesome cuz then I could visit my sister and mom whenever I wanted. Not to mention how nice it would be to come home at the end of a miserably cold day in the dead of winter and be able to pop over to some nice warm beach for a drink with an umbrella in it.

Oh if I could wiggle my nose and be sitting in a German cafe having a nice piece of cake-i am for it! I don't think we would ever lose our individuality no matter how much it has been tried (think Stalin, Hitler, China...). We are all individuals...except me:)

FOR REALS. Why hasn't anyone come up with this yet?!?! I ask myself this EVERY time I have to pack a stupid suitcase or move away from friends... (say, like, friends in Houston, for example). This sucks. Someone needs to get on this teleportation thing PRONTO!!

Hi SL - teleportation would be amazing .. and yes saving all that hassle. Thankfully I don't do regular travel now - but can feel your 'pain' at all the kerfuffle that goes into air travel. The homogenising of everything seems to be slowly creeping along - but there are too many bloody battles around - the dividing line will still be there - very sadly. Interesting thoughts here ... cheers Hilary